06 December 2011

2011-12-06 New Russian Orthodox Church in Madrid

December 6, 2011. The Consecration of the Cornerstone of the New Russian Orthodox Church of the Nativity of Christ in Madrid

On November 23/December 6, 2011, on the Feast Day of St. Alexander Nevskii and St. Mitrophan of Voronezh, the cornerstone was blessed for the new Church of the Nativity of Christ in Madrid at 48 Gran Via de Hortaleza.

On the eve of the service, on December 5, 2011, His Eminence, Archbishop Mark of Egorievsk, the head of the Secretariat of Foreign Institutions of the Moscow Patriarchate, and His Grace, Bishop Nestor of Korsun, met with the Board of Trustees of the Fund established to oversee the construction of the Church of the Nativity of Christ. At the meeting was also present the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna. Afterward, a moleben [an intercessory prayer service—trans.] was served in the current location in Madrid where the parish of the Nativity of Christ meets for services. The moleben was served before an ancient icon of the patron saint of the Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Mary Magdalene, which had just the day before arrived in Madrid from Buenos Aires. Before the 1917 revolution, the icon had been in the first Orthodox church in Madrid, and then went to Argentina, and now, thanks to the blessing of Metropolitan Siluan of Buenos Aires and all Argentina (Antiochian Patriarchate), it has been returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.

On December 6, at the construction site of the new church, His Eminence, Archbishop Mark of Egorievsk, and His Grace, Bishop Nestor of Korsun, along with Archpriest Andrei Kordochkin, the parish priest, performed the service blessing the corner stone of the church. Attending the service was the wife of President D. A. Medvedev, Svetlana Vladimirovna Medvedeva, who has been a strong and constant supporter of the Russian Orthodox parish in Madrid.

The service was attended by members of the parish and a large number of local residents, as well as by the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna, and by the Heir, Tsesarevich, and Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich, who flew to Madrid from Brussels to attend the service. Among the other honored guests present were the secretary general of the Spanish bishops' conference, Bishop Juan Antonio Martinez Camino; His Eminence Metropolitan Polikarp of Spain and Portugal of the Constantinople Patriarchate; Archpriest Demetrius Tsiamparlis, rector of the Church of Ss. Andrew and Demetrius (Constantinople Patriarchate); clergy of the Romanian Orthodox Church; clergy of Orthodox and Catholic parishes in Spain; the Russian ambassador to Spain, A. I. Kuznetsov, and other members of the Russian diplomatic mission in Spain; the Director of the Chancellery of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, A. N. Zakatov; the head of public relations for the Chancellery, D. G. Mepurishvili; and other prominent figures of Russian and Spanish society.

H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna discussed with S. V. Medvedeva the development of Orthodox spiritual live in Spain during the period 1950s – 1990s.

Responding to questions from Russian television (Channel 1, ORT) and other correspondents from the Russian media, the Head of the House of Romanoff said: “We so much hoped and worked for this day, and now God helped us. We never doubted that He was with us and that He would provide us this joy. Finally, in a year and a half, if all goes well, there will be a new and beautiful Russian church in Madrid.”

The Grand Duchess thanked Fr. Demetrius Tsiampalis for his many years serving the Orthodox community of all nationalities in Spain. But, of course, the construction in Madrid of a specifically Russian Orthodox church is for the Russian Imperial House an especially important and enormously joyful event.

The consecration of the cornerstone was one of the most important events in the “Year of Russia,” which has been celebrated this year in Spain.

The History of the Russian Orthodox Community in Madrid.

In 1761, the Church of the Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Mary Magdalene was founded in Madrid and existed until 1882.

In the twentieth century, after the war, a house church of the Holy Martyr Alexandra was founded and supported in Spain by the Heads and members of the Russian Imperial House and the Georgian Royal House. This house church was founded by the most august father-in-law of Grand Duke Wladimir Kirillovich, the Head of the Georgian Royal House, Prince George Aleksandrovich Bagration-Mukhranskii. It was illegal during the time of Generalissimo Francisco Franco to build any non-Catholic churches in Spain. The police once showed up during services and, seeing what was going on, and learning that it was Prince George Aleksandrovich who had organized the services, respectfully told him that the law against such gatherings was the same for everyone, but did not apply any repressive measures against him. And it was the police themselves who suggested a way around the law. There was an exception to the law that permitted non-Catholic churches to exist inside the embassies of non-Catholic countries. At that time, the only Orthodox country with an embassy in Spain was Greece and, at the initiative of Prince George Aleksandrovich, the parish was registered under the Greek embassy.

In 1967, growing out of this house church, an orthodox community, under the omophorion of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, was registered. From its very beginning, Fr. Demetrius Tsiamparlis was its rector. In 1973, still during the lifetime of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, the Church of Ss. Andrew and Demetrius was built on Nicaragua Street. Over the course of many years, the Orthodox faithful of all nationalities gathered to pray here, including the Heads of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duke Wladimir Kirillovich and H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna; members of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna, H.I.H. Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich; his father, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich (after the dissolution of his parents’ marriage in 1985, Prince Mikhail Pavlovich), as well as Tsar Simeon and Tsaritsa Margarita of Bulgaria, Tsaritsa Giovanna of Bulgaria, and other members of the Bulgarian Royal Family; the Heads of the Georgian Royal House, H.R.H. Prince Irakly Georgievich, H.R.H. Prince George Iraklievich, H.R.H. Prince David Georgievich, and other members of the Georgian Royal House; Prince Nicholas of Romania; and other members of Orthodox royal dynasties who had come to Spain.

With God’s help, in 2001 a Russian Orthodox parish was founded in Madrid in honor of the Nativity of Christ. However, up until now, services have had to be conducted in a former furniture factory.

On May 28/June 10, 2007, on the Feast of All Saints of Russia, which in that year coincided with the anniversary of the enthronement of His Holiness, Aleskei II, as patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and with his blessing, the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna presented to the parish rector, Fr. Andrei Kordochkin, the antimension and altar utensils from the Imperial Family’s own chapel of St. Seraphim of Sarov in St.-Briac, and from the Imperial Family’s house church in Madrid of the Holy Martyr St. Alexandra. (For the original Russian press release on this gift, see: http://www.imperialhouse.ru/rus/allnews/news/2007/714.html; for the English translation, see: http://www.imperialhouse.ru/eng/allnews/news/2007/759.html.)

The need to build a new church for the Russian parish had been discussed for a long time, but the turning point came after the visit to Spain of the President of Russia, Dmitrii Medvedev in March 2009. On March 1, 2009, President Medvedev’s wife, Svetlana Vladimirovna, visited the Nativity of Christ parish. During her visit, the mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón Jiménez, promised to resolve the problem of finding an appropriate construction site for the new Russian Orthodox church.

With the blessing of His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow and All Russia, a new Nativity of Christ Fund was registered in the Spanish Ministry of Culture, chaired by the rector of the parish, Fr. Andrei Kordochkin. The Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna, sits on the Board of Trustees of the Fund.

Official permission for construction of the new Church at 48 Gran Via de Hortaleza was received on October 5, 2011.

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